Chapter 25 She had an inexplicable strange feeling towards him…
The summer heat was oppressive, the cicadas were chirping incessantly, and his breath brushed against her ear, making that small patch of skin burn intensely.
She bit her lip and turned her face away in unbearable discomfort.
Perhaps it was because the weather was so hot and humid, and the cicadas' chirping was so annoying, but she felt a little breathless and her heart could no longer find peace.
In such a situation, it was really difficult to keep a clear head, let alone know what to do. She just felt dizzy in waves. When she came to her senses, Xiao Che had already grabbed her wrist and led her out of the path.
Yan Jiarou glanced at his hand gripping her wrist, and belatedly asked, "Where...where are you taking me?"
Xiao Che didn't stop walking. Hearing this, he turned around and smiled brightly at her: "Didn't you want my hairpin?"
The youth's expression was intense, and his beautiful appearance became even more vivid, just like the blazing sun, dazzling and radiant.
A clear, crisp voice pierced the summer's oppressive heat. He gently shook her wrist and looked up at her.
"Come with me, and I'll pick one for you."
Yan Jiarou felt that the sunlight was particularly dazzling today.
She had been in a dazed state since the beginning. Perhaps it was an innate ability of the Lanling people to make it difficult for the other party to stay awake for a short period of time. In the past, because Xiao Che always opposed her and never showed her any kindness, she naturally hated him. It was this hatred that was enough to offset his natural influence on her and prevent her from losing her senses.
But today... he was acting really strangely. Then again, perhaps it was precisely because of this strangeness that she didn't react immediately and felt dizzy.
Yes, that must be it.
In any case, the strange symptoms caused by Xiao Che were not of her own volition. It was either because he was a member of the Lanling clan and possessed some innate ability that captivated people.
Either she has contracted a strange illness and is often unable to control her own body.
Or perhaps he was acting strangely today, which is why she didn't realize it at first!
However, at this moment, their time together was a rare moment of peace and tranquility, and this feeling... didn't seem too bad.
Xiao Che led her to the vicinity of the Agarwood Pavilion.
The Agarwood Pavilion was built by Emperor Yuan of Wei for Jiang Chenyu, and it was named after the finest agarwood.
Because the imperial concubine loved peonies the most, and admired their bright and passionate nature, peonies were planted all over this place.
At this time, peonies are in full bloom. A gentle breeze blows, and a large expanse of peony petals sway, incomparably beautiful, dazzling and breathtakingly gorgeous.
Xiao Che arrived at the peony bushes, picked out the most vibrant and beautiful peony, and gently broke it off with his slender, fair fingers. He then turned and walked to Yan Jiarou, handing her the peony in his hand: "Here, this is for you."
Yan Jiarou stared at him blankly, hesitating whether to reach out and take it...
When she was little, her father told her that the more attractive something is, the more dangerous it is, like that brightly colored venomous snake that was trying to attack her.
The peony was indeed very beautiful, extremely charming, especially since... it was picked and handed to me by Xiao Che himself.
But... why is Xiao Che suddenly being so friendly to her? Could he be up to something?
Although he used to give her gifts on holidays, she thought it was only because she called him Third Brother that she had to give them. But today, when he could take the opportunity to make fun of her, why did he let such a once-in-a-lifetime chance slip by?
She still remembers one year on the Qixi Festival, when she and several other princesses gathered together to thread needles and embroider sachets, following the custom.
Their embroidery skills were far superior to hers; she was practically a novice at embroidery. Her nanny had taught them before, but she had never been able to endure hardship. After accidentally pricking herself with a needle once, she refused to learn again.
But seeing the other princesses embroidering so beautifully, with a pair of mandarin ducks so lifelike, I couldn't help but feel envious.
Princess Yonghe, who was standing to the side, saw that Jiarou was staring at the sachet she was embroidering and couldn't help but laugh and say, "Why don't you embroider one yourself? No matter how many times you look at it, it's not as good as doing it yourself to learn."
Yan Jiarou was too embarrassed to say that she was afraid of being pricked by needles, but seeing that they were all embroidering and she was not moving, which seemed strange, she also started embroidering in a daze.
In the course of most of the day, he managed to sew one crookedly, and even embroidered a pair of mandarin ducks with them.
Although she had only embroidered casually, it would be a pity to leave it aside now that she had finally finished it. Yonghe and the others said that giving a sachet to a beloved man on the Qixi Festival is a way to express one's feelings. Although Xiao Jue had known her feelings for a long time, it would never be wrong to give her an extra sachet.
She had worked so hard to finish embroidering it, so she had to send it out.
Who knew she would run into Xiao Che on the road? By sheer coincidence, he saw the sachet in her hand. Yan Jiarou instinctively tried to hide behind her, but he had already seen it.
This road is the only way to the East Palace.
Xiao Che's expression immediately turned cold, and he scoffed, "Go find the Crown Prince?"
Seeing his unfriendly tone, Yan Jiarou was displeased, so she didn't give him a friendly look either: "So what if it is? What's it to you?"
As she spoke, she casually brought the sachet she had hidden behind her back to the front. She didn't even know what she had hidden there. She liked Xiao Jue, so giving him the sachet was only natural. So what if Xiao Che saw it?
Xiao Che glanced down at the sachet in front of her, his jaw tightening slightly. He simply said, "A sachet given as a Qixi Festival gift? What, you want to pledge your love to him?"
The tone remained unfriendly, with a restrained intensity beneath a lurking hostility.
Yan Jiarou naturally replied with the same response: "So what if it is? What's it to you?"
Xiao Che laughed angrily, "Of course it's none of my business. It's just—"
He lowered his gaze and looked again at the sachet she was clutching tightly in her hand. A cold smile appeared on his lips, and his words were merciless: "Those who know, you gave this sachet to express your feelings. Those who don't know, they'd think you were going to cut ties with the Crown Prince, so you gave him this ugly thing to annoy him."
Yan Jiarou's head spun, and she felt a burning sensation on her face, as if she had been slapped in public. She was extremely embarrassed.
She was naturally aware of her own limitations, knowing that the sachet she had hastily embroidered didn't look very appealing and might be a little embarrassing to present. But no matter what, it was something she had sewn herself stitch by stitch, imbuing it with her countless emotions and deepest feelings. She had even pricked her fingertips several times while sewing it.
How could the sachet she painstakingly sewed be so unpalatable in Xiao Che's mouth?
It even got to the point where Xiao Jue suspected she was deliberately trying to annoy him.
She was already lacking confidence in the sachet she had embroidered, and now that Xiao Che had said that, she was even more discouraged and lost all confidence. She didn't even dare to give it to Xiao Jue anymore.
Her nose stung, and her eyes began to swell. She lowered her head, her fingertips carefully tracing each stitch, and suddenly felt extremely sad: "Is it really that ugly? But I clearly put a lot of effort into embroidering it, especially this pair of mandarin ducks..."
But a cold laugh came from above, and his words were even more piercing:
"Mandarin ducks? Have you ever seen mandarin ducks? Just embroidered on like that? Ha, if you didn't know better, you'd think they were a pair of ugly ducklings that popped up out of nowhere."
"I only have one piece of advice for you: never give this sachet to the Crown Prince. I'm afraid that not only will I fail to win his favor, but I'll also make things worse and end up with half the result for twice the effort. Why bother?"
"If such a sachet were to fall on the ground, I would surely assume it was carelessly discarded by someone and wouldn't even bother to glance at it, let alone bend down to pick it up—now that I've said all this, are you going to present it to the Crown Prince like a precious treasure?"
Yan Jiarou suddenly looked up, staring at him in disbelief: "You..."
Young girls are naturally sensitive, and they can't withstand such a blow, especially since what he said was so awful.
I couldn't hold back any longer, and my eyes instantly welled up with tears, which just kept falling like raindrops.
Feeling utterly heartbroken and humiliated, and filled with shame and anger, she raised her hand and slapped him: "Xiao Wenqi, you...you've gone too far!"
Xiao Che's face turned slightly as he was hit, and red marks appeared on his fair cheeks. He glanced at Yan Jiarou's red eyes, his brows furrowed, and his Adam's apple bobbed as he hesitated to speak.
Yan Jiarou seemed to never want to see him again. She threw the sachet in her hand at him and said, "I hate you the most in this world. I will never forgive you!" Then she turned around and ran away crying.
Since that incident, the two have become increasingly hostile, almost to the point of irreconcilable enmity.
After returning home that day, Yan Jiarou lay on the bed and cried for a long time. Just as she was sobbing uncontrollably, Yingxue walked in. She walked in rather hastily, her breathing still unsteady, and her voice preceded her arrival—
"Princess, I've brought the birthday gift for the Third Prince. It's all Xiao Shunzi's fault; he can't even do this small thing right, causing the gift to be delayed. Princess, why don't we deliver it to the Third Prince now?"
Upon closer inspection, I discovered that Yan Jiarou was lying on the bed crying. Hearing the noise, she turned around to look at me, her fair face covered in tears, her face streaked with sorrow.
Yingxue was startled and momentarily at a loss: "Princess...you...what's wrong?"
Yan Jiarou looked at the zither in Yingxue's arms through teary eyes. Her mind slowly went through a process before she remembered the whole story.
It turned out that it was Xiao Che's birthday three days ago, but she had forgotten.
Although the two of them had never gotten along, they had grown up together since childhood and would address each other as "Royal Brother" and "Royal Sister" when others were present. Out of politeness, they had a habit of exchanging birthday gifts.
To be fair, Xiao Che had never forgotten her birthday, but she always remembered Xiao Jue's birthday and forgot about his.
Three days ago was his seventeenth birthday, and she forgot again. It wasn't until Xiao Che came to her with a cold face that she suddenly remembered and promised to personally hand over the gift to him before Shenshi (3-5 PM) on the seventh day of the month.
Calculating the time, it was exactly the time she had encountered Xiao Che on her way to the East Palace.
That was the deadline she had promised to give Xiao Che his birthday gift.
But she wasn't holding his gift in her hand at the time. What she was giving Xiao Che was a sachet, which she was clutching tightly in her palm with great joy.
As for the congratulatory gift for Xiao Che, she completely forgot about it because she was busy embroidering a sachet all day and the gift was delayed.
Anyway, she had forgotten more than one or two things about Xiao Che, so it wasn't a big deal to her.
They hated each other from the start and were mortal enemies. It's uncertain whether Xiao Che truly wanted her congratulatory gift.
Moreover, unlike the meticulous selection and painstaking effort she put into preparing congratulatory gifts for Xiao Jue, the gifts she prepared for Xiao Che were always extremely perfunctory.
Xiao Che was a gentleman who was proficient in all six arts, so she would send him things like collections of essays, crossbows, and guqin, rotating them every year. Although Xiao Che would accept them every time, she didn't believe he couldn't see through her perfunctory attitude, or that he genuinely wanted her gifts.
As for the gift Xiao Che gave her, she hadn't really opened it much. She knew that since he disliked her so much, what good things could he possibly give her? It was probably just some perfunctory stuff, just like what he gave her.
That's still good; I'm afraid he might send her some weird thing with a mechanism inside, which, when opened, would pop out and scare her—since he hates her, it's entirely possible he'd do something so nasty.
So although she accepted his congratulatory gifts every time, just like him, she almost never opened them properly.
In the past, we had to consider face and exchange gifts, but after today's incident, we've completely broken off relations and there's no need to bother with formalities anymore!
She doesn't want any more birthday gifts!
Thinking this, she hastily wiped away the tears on her face, got up and walked a few steps to Yingxue's side, snatched the guqin from her arms and slammed it to the ground.
She was usually quite weak, but this time, she seemed to have found a strange strength, and with a forceful slam, she broke the guqin in two. Yingxue, who was standing to the side, stared in disbelief: "M-Master, what are you doing...?"
She couldn't help but feel anxious for her: "This is a birthday gift for the Third Prince! We were already late, first forgetting his birthday, so the gift had to be delivered late, and then we even missed the three-day deadline. Now you've broken the gift, so we'll have to prepare a new one. If this keeps going on, Your Highness, the Third Prince will be very upset..."
"He's sad? I'm the one who's sad!" Yan Jiarou sneered. "A birthday gift? What birthday gift! Yingxue, listen up, from now on, we don't need to send the Third Prince any birthday gifts anymore! From now on, he and I are sworn enemies, and we'll never see each other again!"
——
When I came to my senses, I found myself holding a peony.
It turned out that she had unconsciously reached out and taken it while she was lost in thought.
She gazed at the peony in her hand. It truly lived up to the description in the "Compendium of Materia Medica": "Peony means graceful and beautiful. This herb has graceful flowers, hence the name." It was indeed otherworldly, with a touch of bewitching charm amidst its delicate beauty, captivating all who beheld it.
She looked up at Xiao Che and thought that Xiao Che's choice of peony as the hairpin was surprisingly appropriate for the ceremony, after all... the flower reflects the person.
A slight smile played on his lips as he looked back at her. Seeing her gaze upon him, his smile deepened: "Does it look good?"
She paused slightly, unsure whether he was asking about the flowers or the people. She was never one to lie, and instinctively nodded, "They're both beautiful..."
Xiao Che raised an eyebrow, seemingly surprised, and chuckled, "What? All? Wasn't there only one peony?"
Yan Jiarou was stunned for a moment, then instantly understood. She wished she could bite off her own tongue, and could only shake her head with a blush, saying, "It's nothing..."
She and Xiao Che had always been at odds, like oil and water, and rarely had such a peaceful time, which made her feel a little lost.
Perhaps because he was a member of the Lanling clan, Xiao Che seemed to have a natural ability to influence her, an influence that could only be suppressed by a tense standoff.
Once their relationship ceased to be like that, she felt an inexplicable strangeness towards him.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
